An abnormal bulge or aneurysm may occur in a body vessel due to the weakening of the vessel's wall. If the aneurysm grows large enough it may rupture and produce internal hemorrhaging, which can lead to a life threatening condition. In order to prevent rupturing, physicians have developed various methods, such as surgical clipping, and endovascular treatment. Endovascular treatment includes the use of a balloon or coil to occlude the flow of blood into the vascular abnormality by creating a physical barrier. The selection of either surgery or endovascular treatment depends upon individualized risk factors, the location of the aneurysm, the size of the aneurysm, and the likelihood of complete occlusion.
During endovascular treatment an embolization coil is typically delivered to the location of an aneurysm present in the body vessel or vasculature of a patient through the use of a catheterization procedure. In this procedure, a catheter is inserted into the body vessel and positioned to be proximal to the aneurysm. Then a coil is loaded into the lumen of the catheter and advanced through the catheter until it reaches and exits through the distal end of the catheter. The goal of this treatment is to reduce pressure on the vessel walls at the location of the aneurysm in order to prevent the aneurysm from continuing to enlarge and ultimately rupture. Unfortunately, this technique suffers from the possibility that the aneurysm will continue to enlarge due to the pressure being exerted by the blood flow onto the coil placed into the opening of the aneurysm. Accordingly, there exists a continual desire to develop and provide a system or mechanism for occluding the flow of blood or reducing the pressure exerted onto the walls of vessel at the location of the aneurysm.